John 11:38-44
Notes
Transcript
Let me confess my dirty little secret…I love watching the UFC.
And…if you were at my house right now and we were about to talk about this section I would probably YouTube Bruce Buffer in the cage right before the fight screaming, “This is the Main Event of the Evening!”
Jesus vs. Death.
Here in the scene Death is the Home team. Thats why it is Jesus vs. Death. Christ comes to the tomb for this fight.
Later, there is a re-match when Death comes to Jesus.
My prayer is that when we break down this text we don’t just see what it says on the page but that we see what it says to us spiritually...
First let us just see what the text says. I’ll read it slowly
Then let see what the text is telling us...
So, before we read the text I want you to think about some things. Now these are things that EVERYONE who professes to be a Christian says they believe.
Before someone comes to know Christ they are dead in their sins (Rom. 3:10-23; Rom. 6:23; Rom. 5:12).
People who are not Christians are Spiritually Dead
In order to be a Christian one must be born again
My question I want you to ask yourself is
do I really believe what I “say” I believe?
Do I really UNDERSTAND what I have always said that I believe?
Have I really understood the things that I said I believed?
Before we even read our text this morning, let me read you something first from God’s Word.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Lets read our text this morning: Im going to start with vs. 36 and I’ll read through vs. 44
Hear the Word of God:
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Prayer:
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
“Deeply Moved again” - was it the thought of Lazarus’ dead body that deeply moved him again? I DON’T THINK SO.
I believe it was a couple of things:
Have you ever been in a situation where you had a lot of emotions going on at once?
I think it was the previous verse (the people that were mocking him) AND...
and his hatred of what sin brought into His World
We read in verse 19 that many Jews came here to mourn and console the sisters over the death of their brother, Lazarus. We see them in vs. 31, 33, and here again in vs 35 -36.
Remember, Bethany was just the other side of the Mount of Olives which is literally directly east of the Temple.
Bethany is just under 2 miles from Jerusalem.
Think of the people who came from Jerusalem who have been told all the horrible things about Jesus from their religious leaders who are wanting to kill him.
They don’t KNOW Him…they THINK they know things about Him but they don’t KNOW Him.
And here they are…mocking him. “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
see, that happened in Jerusalem (John 9).
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Whatever we may endure from unbelievers…it is nothing compared to the hostility He endured for us.
If you experience hostility like Christ, praise God that He is conforming you more and more into the image of His Son…our Saviour.
STAY THE COURSE…BECAUSE HE DID...
Another thing that “deeply moved him again” was his hatred of Sin and Death.
Look back at verse 38:
Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
Imagine the scene: Its a showdown!
Jesus walks up to the tomb…about to confront death itself, and it seems impossible. Imagine the look on His face.
Christ, God the Son…the God Man…knowing from all eternity what He would come to do some day in history is FINALLY HERE....one more Miracle to do on Earth before He accomplishes the worlds Greatest Miracle…HE comes to this tomb like a conquering King going to battle…ready for war!
Look what He says in the next verse:
Verse 39:
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
Sounds simple enough. Christ commands them to “take the stone away” but Martha is like, “wowww…wait a second. Jesus? He has been in the tomb for 4 days! Its going to be horrible if you have them take away the stone”
Let’s not look down on Martha here…lets give her a break. Nothing like this has ever happened before and she had never heard the story of Lazarus like we all have growing up....She is RIGHT THERE while it is happening.
Before we look down on her I think we are all about to see how we have all been like Martha before and in some ways STILL like Martha this morning.
Let me tell you what is going on with Martha right here and then I’ll tell you one way I am like Martha.
See, Martha sent some friends to Jesus 4 days ago to tell Jesus that their brother is deathly sick back in verse 3.
Lets look at that real quick:
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
— Don’t you imagine that the trusted friends that Mary and Martha sent to Jesus came back and told them what He said?
His illness doesn’t lead to death
It is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through this
And then we read this as the story progressed:
Look at verse 23-27
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
— She confessed that she believed this!
— She confessed that she believed that even though a believer dies, they shall live
and that everyone who lives and believes WILL NEVER DIE!
— She confessed that she believed that JESUS CHRIST IS THE RESURRECTION!
But when the rubber meets the road is when we see if we truly believe what we say we believe...
She believed “theoretically” all the things she professed to believe…but we see here in verse 39 she didn’t truly understand what she had committed to.
It is a lack of faith in what she “thinks” she believes
Look at verse 39 again:
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
When it was time to exercise her confession…we see that she didn’t truly understand what she had committed to in her confession.
Let me tell you where I my faith needs grow.
Where I need to be sanctified by Christ because of my weak faith
I guess calling it a weak faith is the nice “religious” word for it
Words like: self pity might be better or to make it really honest I could call it self-righteous and arrogant
See, I say I believe things but when the rubber meets the road sometimes…I just don’t:
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
I say I believe that…and I do.
But when I take my eyes off of Christ and put them on me…my confession doesn’t match up with my explanation anymore...
There are times when I feel:
fearful…and anxious, apprehensive about situations because I feel ALONE
I don’t feel that God is with me...
There are times when I try to do things on my own strength because if I don’t who will do it?
At times I don’t feel that God is holding my up with His “righteous right hand”…with the strength of His Son
It is self-righteous, it is spiritual pride on my part, and at the end of the day it is a lack of faith and trust in believing God’s Word. It is believing my feelings and my thoughts over what God says.
Thats me…I’ll ask about you in just a minute but lets now look at verse 40
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
— Jesus reminds her of verses 3-4 and verses 23-27
He reminds her of what she already “said” she beleived.
But again, Martha is not too different from us is she?
We try to understand God through worldly wisdom.
IF the things we read in Scripture do not make since to us in our world, in our reality…we tend to reject them.
We apply worldly wisdom to try to wrap our minds around God’s word
We think that is how we are to understand His Word…BUT THAT IS SO WRONG
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
BACK TO JOHN 11:40...
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
You know what doesn’t make sense in our world?
We say things like:
“SEEING IS BELIEVING”
“Show me…then I’ll believe you”.
You know why we say things like that?
Because we don’t trust people
We know they lie, so before we believe them…they must prove it first…you want to “SEE”…and THEN YOU WILL BELEIEVE.
We know “they” lie…because “WE” lie!
So we have a hard time TRUSTING people and we apply OUR REALITY TO GODS WORD...
Look closely at what Jesus Christ says to her...
“Did I not tell you that IF YOU BELIEVED....YOU WOULD SEE...”
Christ turns everything upside down in this fallen world…He came to make All THINGS NEW.
The world is fallen…our minds are fallen…
Christ came to put things right again.
We say, “I have to SEE TO BELIEVE”...
Christ says, “YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IF YOU WANT TO SEE!”
I want to encourage you…implore you…to believe Christ’s Words over your words, over my words, over your preachers word, over your Grandpa’s word
BELIEVE FIRST…AND YOU WILL SEE!
((( John 6:69 )))
Look at verses 41-42
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
There are a few things I want to say about this verse but first I want to say something to those who might be visiting this morning:
I am so thankful to God that He brought you here this morning!
I hope you have noticed this morning, here at POTR, we want to know God’s Word and know how to apply it to our lives.
When we read God’s Word we are looking for two people…we are looking for Christ…and we are looking for ourselves
And every time we read we see that CHRIST ALONE is the good guy in the story…and WE ARE THE BAD GUYS.
Christ ALONE is the only one that is righteous and holy…we are not.
This is why we look to Christ for everything
Don’t look to me or whoever wherever you come from…Look to Christ
Let me show you what I am talking about…Look at verses 41-42 up on the Screen!
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
See the confidence in Christs’ prayer?
I am assuming on the walk to either Bethany or to the tomb Christ had already prayed to the FATHER...
and as they were taking the stone away…with this dead man inside…Christ says, “Father, thank you that you have heard me”.
Man, what confidence.
He says, “I knew that you ALWAYS hear me...”
Lets be honest with ourselves:
many, many, many times we feel the opposite.
there are many times we wonder, “God, are you there? Do you hear me?”
Church, lets strive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be more like Christ in our prayers…but if we can be honest…we ALL have a long way to go.
And HE prays not for Himself but for those around Him …that they may believe.
Let me show you who we are in these 2 verses:
Look at the first sentence in verse 41 and you will see me and you…thats us!
“So they took away the stone”.
thats us!
See what they did? They hear the command of Christ…but they hesitate.
They hear Christ say, “Take away the stone”…but then they hear Martha question Him…so they wait…before they obey.
Don’t we do the same thing?
God speaks to us through His Word and impresses something on our heart but before we believe and obey…we hesitate.
It could be just like this...
“Yes. I see your word Lord. I hear it. It sounds crazy to me if Im being honest but I can’t deny your word...But let me see what Martha says?”
Church…let us believe the Word of God and not hesitate...
Let us Believe so that we can See.
Look at verse 43
When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
You have all heard that if He would not have called out Lazarus’ name specifically, every dead person would have come back from the dead.
But Christ chose to raise Lazarus this day…so He called His name. And when Christ calls someone by name…they come…every time.
It says, “he cried out with a loud voice”…was that necessary?
Im sure He could have whispered it…He is God
But…I see God, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune God of the Universe…walking to this tomb…anxious and ready for war…and with the same voice He spoke into the nothingness with that created the Heavens and the Earth is the same type voice He spoke into the grave…WITH AUTHORITY!
Can you believe that? That this really happened in history in a town called Bethany just under 2 miles from Jerusalem?
IF not…listen to the Words of God:
God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
the word that says “we cannot comprehend” - means we can’t perceive the idea or situation mentally. It doesn’t seem to make sense to us!
How is it possible?
But believe the Word of God.
Jesus Christ called with a loud voice into a dead mans grave and look what happened....
Look at verse 44....
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The dead man, Lazarus, CAME OUT.
He was raised from the DEAD!
And look what Jesus tells the people...
“Unbind him, and let him go”
That was an amazing story wasn’t it?
I started by telling you that I want us to see what the text says first and then see what it is telling us Spiritually.
Remember Martha?
She said she “believed” Jesus when He told her that her brother was going to rise again (verse 23-34)
But Christ knew she didn’t REALLY understand what He was saying...
So He told her plainly in verse 25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
And she answered Him in the next verse:
She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
But remember when He walked to the tomb to raise Him…she stopped Him because her brother had been dead for four days.
She theoretically believed … but she had NO understanding of what she “thought” she believed.
God graciously grows our faith so we can have a better understanding, ya’ll.
We saw ourselves in this passage through many characters but there is another one I want to point out now…Lazarus
You either ARE Lazarus right now…OR you WERE Lazarus before you became a Christian!
Let me remind you of the questions I asked you to think about this morning:
EVERYONE who professes to be a Christian says they believe this…but do we really or do we just theoretically believe?
Before someone comes to know Christ they are dead in their sins (Rom. 3:10-23; Rom. 6:23; Rom. 5:12).
People who are not Christians are Spiritually Dead
Do you REALLY BELIEVE THAT OR JUST THEORETICALLY BELIEVE THAT?
DO YOU believe that people are truly SPIRITUALLY DEAD or do you Actually believe people are spiritually sick?
What it means to be spiritually dead is that there is nothing you can do in the spiritual realm.
LET ME ASK YOU THIS:
IF YOU were PHYSICALLY DEAD…what could you do in the Physical Realm?
NOTHIHNG
So…IF you are SPIRITUALLY DEAD…what can you do in the Spiritual Realm?
NOTHING
There are 2 types of people in this world
People of the flesh
People of the Spirit
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Just like it was impossible for Lazarus to call out to CHRIST from the grave…because he was DEAD
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A SPIRITUALLY DEAD PERSON TO CALL OUT TO CHRIST…because they are spiritually dead!
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU NEED TO BE BORN AGAIN?
In order to be a Christian one must be born again, RIGHT?
DO YOU REALLY believe that or just like Martha…you theoretically believe it?
Well, lets think about what we are actually saying:
Think of your birthdate right now.
Now, why did you choose to be born on that day?
You see that? You had no say so on when you were born. It wasn’t up to you.
It wasn’t your decision
What makes us think that its up to us when we become born again?
Lazarus didn’t choose to be raised from the dead on the 4th day…and we don’t get to choose what day Christ raises us from spiritual death!
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
LOOK AT THIS ONE...
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
We can’t save ourself!
THERE is nothing a dead person can do…BUT GOD! Our only hope!
And some might say, “Then if it is not up to us but to God…then why...
Evangelize?
Why SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH PEOPLE?
Thats a fair question. Im not mad at it.
But … before I answer you let me make this clear…God can do anything He wants because He is God and we are NOT!
Before I answer that question I want to ask you a few and I want you to answer it in your own head: (think…and answer yourself)
Do you think there were other people buried in Bethany where Lazarus was buried?
Do you think Christ, the Son of God, could have raised all of them if He wanted to?
IF not…do you not think the Son of God who created Heaven and Earth didn’t have the power?
So you DO believe HE could have raised every dead person in Bethany if He wanted to!
Good answer!
Look here at John 5:21
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
{{{ALL THE OTHER TRANSLATIONS}}}
So why do we Evangelize?
Why share IF IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH US?
BECAUSE HE told us to...
and because He is so loving and gracious and kind He LETS US PLAY A PART IN SEEING A SPIRITUALLY DEAD PERSON COME TO LIFE.
You see in our text this morning…look at verse 39 of John 11
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
HE IS ABOUT TO RAISE A DEAD MAN FROM THE GRAVE!
DOES ANYONE REALLY THINK HE NEEDS THEM TO MOVE THE STONE???
but he lets the people play a part and be involved to witness the miracle of a dead person come to life!
It was clear to them that they didn’t do it....
It was clear to them that Lazarus didn’t do it...
It should have been clear to ALL OF THEM…that this was carried out by GOD!
And look at verse 44:
The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Christ JUST RAISED A DEAD MAN FROM THE GRAVE AND BROUGHT HIM BACK TO LIFE!
DOES ANYONE REALY BELIEVE that He NOW needed someones HELP to “unbind him, and let him go”?
NO…but He allows us to play a part in watching a dead person come to life!
They knew that Lazarus didn’t come to life because of something they DID...
Lazarus knew that he didn’t come to life because of anything he did...
They ALL should have known…it should have been CLEAR TO EVERYONE THAT THIS WORK WAS CARRIED OUT BY GOD!
So Christian…thank God Almighty for his grace and mercy that he breathed life in you when you were SPIRITUALLY DEAD.
So what do we do with this?
Go look for stones to move...
And when you get to play a part and witness Jesus giving spiritual life to an unbeliever…Go UNBIND HIM..AND LET HIM GO…DISCIPLE HIM IN THE WORD OF GOD!
If you are an unbeliever I want you to hear the Word of Christ this morning:
God is Holy…and HE gave us His Law to keep.
His Law is Holy and it is a picture of His Holiness.
But you have broken Gods Law and You CANNOT pay Him back!
According to the Word of God…you have earned death.
The penalty for breaking Gods Law is spiritual and physical death.
HELL is where you will go and you will reap the wrath of God.
But I have good news...
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
amen